“A necessary afterthought.” That is one of the reactions we heard when we surveyed our colleagues about public involvement in the early stages of designing the Public Involvement Resource Center.

While we don’t agree, of course, we appreciated our colleague’s honesty; this observation helped to define our task with this project. We don’t want PBOTers to see public involvement as only necessary; we want them to see it as essential. When public involvement is done right it makes a vital contribution to building great projects or designing effective programs. And we certainly don’t want our fellow PBOTers to see public involvement as an afterthought. We want them to see it as a tool they should want to deploy as soon as they start planning their initiative. Because in our experience, investing in good public involvement up front pays off in the end in projects with more community support and better benefits for constituents.

But good public involvement doesn’t just happen. Thoughtful and productive public involvement can be complex; it has many moving parts and involves working with multiple sections in our bureau. One of our goals with this resource center is to make it easier for PBOTers to design effective public involvement processes.

This checklist helps achieve this goal by helping you identify the major steps to take on the road to engaging our constituents in a productive and mutually beneficial way.  In each section, we have compiled a list of suggested steps and their timing.

Download the checklist here.

A) PLANNING AND SCOPING

There are a number of tools to help you as you plan your public involvement process. The main tool is the Public Involvement Template. This template will help you identify the main components of your process. It will prompt you to be clear about what input you want from the public and what you will be promising your constituents. It will also help you identify questions where you may need to gather more information.

The Public Involvement Spectrum Infographic will help you determine what type of public involvement process will match your project. 

The Public Involvement Directory is also an important resource at this stage. It can help you identify colleagues in our bureau who may have worked on similar projects or with similar organizations and who can be a resource for you. The breadth and depth of public involvement expertise at PBOT is impressive; we’ve designed the directory to make it easier for you to tap this amazing resource.

Finally, the Best Practices section of the website will help you brainstorm ways to integrate new tools and innovative approaches into your public involvement process.

B) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT EVENTS

Public events is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to engaging our constituents. The promise you make to the public should drive your choice of public events to build into your overall process.

We have designed visually appealing templates to help you brand your events. Don’t forget to collect demographic data. Such information is crucial as we build out our efforts to include traditionally underserved communities in our efforts.

Finally, make sure that you design inclusive and culturally sensitive events. The Public Involvement Plan Template has a section dedicated specifically to inclusive outreach.

C) COMMUNICATIONS

When is comes to engaging our constituents, communications is the yin to public involvement’s yang. Good communications is not only important for making sure the public has the information it needs to make informed choices, it is also an important tool for building momentum and interest in your project. As with the other aspects of public involvement, plan ahead and keep the bureau’s Comms Team in the loop.

D) DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE TO THE PUBLIC

Once the project is done, it is important to honor the time that your constituents have invested in the public involvement process. This is also an important time to celebrate and publicize the project or program. The type of follow up will be driven both by the type of promise you made to the public as part of the public involvement process and the scale and scope of your project.

A) PLANNING AND SCOPING

B) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT EVENTS

*NOTE: “As part of your stakeholder analysis, consider reaching out to community groups for their event schedules. If they are willing to make time at their event, then you can reach folks where they already are!”

1) PLANNING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE EVENTS

Please see our guide to the Public Involvement Plan Template for information about equitable and culturally responsive outreach. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/665807

2) EVENT LOGISTICS

“When sourcing food for an event, look to see if you can support local businesses. Not only does this support the local economy, but shows you have taken the time to get to know the community.”

C) COMMUNICATIONS

In outreach consider the different perspectives and understandings of government that community members may hold. An event held at a City of Portland community center may deter some, whereas an event held at a place of worship may attract others.

D) FULFILL THE PROMISE TO THE PUBLIC

How the process finishes demonstrates your respect for communities’ time and how the expectations you set at the beginning of the process were met.

How you conclude your project will depend on the promise you made to the public. In general, the greater the promise, the more robust your concluding activities should be. Options include: